Projects Build thread: 1959 Edsel Villager wagon

I bought this 1959 Edsel Villager last summer. I'm just now getting started on it, so I thought I'd do a build thread. I think so far I spent like 5 days working on it At the time of writing it's in my garage on jack stands with a million tools (and 20lb of dirt) underneath it.

What I liked about the car is that it's a basic model, no bells and whistles to all go bad. After all the basic build of 50's cars is very solid but they sucked at the high-tech-wannabe options. It's a complete car, all the chrome is intact, the interior is very usable, even comes with the original keys. Evidently the 223 engine seized due to overheating in the 70's (the last sticker is 1973), and it was parked after that. It's a one owner car - I got the original Texas title with it, issued in 1960 when the car was purchased new.

My plan is to basically restore the car to original, except that I want to install a stereo, power steering, power brakes, dual master cylinder (I'll stick to the drum brakes though, they work fine), A/C, and a 460 EFI with E4OD 4-speed overdrive transmission (the original was a 223 with 2spd).

Some of you will probably cringe at the introduction of an EFI engine, and frankly so do I. But here in Texas we have 6+ months a year of 100+ heat, and carburetors just don't fare very well with that. The engine came from a motorhome with 50k miles on it so hopefully it is in good shape. It certainly looks good, but it was already removed when I got it so hopefully it runs as good as it looks..

And the E4OD is a nice transmission, that should work well with the 3.5:1 rearend. The lower first gear will make it take off as if you had 3.73's and with the overdrive you get the freeway cruising as if you had a 2.5:1 rear.

I'll keep doing updates as I move along. Here are some pictures from last summer when I trailered it home.

 

Different, rare and cool as hell. Please, words and photos as you progress.

 

A different build, but I like it!

 

And here's the 460, complete from fan to driveshaft to wiring harness.


Since it came from an E350 van body, it has a rear sump. Now I'm kicking myself in the head because I junked a front sump car pan a few years back. So I bought a new pan from Canton racing products. Nice pan, looks like OEM quality. I still have the oil pump from the car.

The only problem now is that the front sump cars had the dipstick tube going through the block, whereas the rear sump applications (4x4 trucks and vans) had an external dipstick tube, and hence there is no passage in the timing cover for a dipstick. So I decided to weld a bung to the front sump pan. Now, I was a little nervous since welding tanks and stuff hasn't always ended well for me. But it was actually quite easy. The difference is most of the tanks I welded were 100 year old junk tanks that are as thin as a newspaper. I was amazed how easy it is to weld on new metal!

Here you can see my weld. I have it capped off for leak testing with gasoline.

 

That will be an awesome cruiser when it is done! More proof that the best original projects come from down south! Keep us posted!

 

Great, glad you guys like it! Yea I'm pretty excited about this build. I thought about it for quite a while. I didn't want to do something that will take a lot of time and money. I have worked on the car for about 5 days now, I think if I don't hit a major snag I should be driving it in another 10-15 days. (probably 2-3 months on the calendar)

 

I have one just like that, but its been put on the back burner for a bit.

 

That's cool, I have MANY things on the back burner! Just like this one sat for almost a year before I started on it. My oldest project has been sitting for 5 years. It'll happen in due time.

 

I'm going to redo all the steering, suspension, brakes and fuel system.
Here are all (well, most) of the new parts lined up. Good thing I have a station wagon with a long flat roof to stack parts on

 

Here is the engine compartment after I removed the old engine.



Brakes:

You can see at the top right of the picture I fitted a GM hydroboost setup I had laying around. It took remarkably little effort to get it mounted. I cut the rod off the old master cylinder and ground the end into a ball that fits the GM hydroboost perfectly. Two of the bolt holes lined up fine. I just drilled two new bolt holes and presto! it is mounted.

It's nice and small compared to a vacuum booster. My only reservation is the plumbing is a little more difficult, and actually the reason I bought it is to work with another project where I want to use a diesel engine (which has no vacuum, so you have to either install an ugly vacuum pump or run off your power steering pump). But they can easily be bought through RockAuto etc so I probably shouldn't sweat that part.


Windshield wipers:

OK, vacuum windshield wipers, well, suck, quite literally I might add. I have a F350 parts truck that has electric interval windshield wipers. I was kicking around how I could use this. The vacuum arm moves back and forth whereas the electric arm simply turns round and round, so mounting the electric motor directly will not work, you need something to convert between a rotary motion and a sweeping motion, much like a crankshaft and a piston. I decided to take the vacuum wiper assembly apart. I cut the bottom off as you can see next to the brake booster. I figure I will build a bracket so I can simply have a "connecting rod" from the motor to the vacuum arm. I decided to put this off for now as it's best done when all the other pieces (engine, brakes, steering etc) are in place.

 

Suspension:

The ball joints seemed to be in good condition, however the rubber bushings on the lower A-arms were completely shot. The bushings need to be removed and installed with a hydraulic press. I don't have a handheld one, so I had to remove the A-arms. Heck, at that rate you may as well take the whole thing apart.



The lower A-arm removed .. the lower ball joint is reveted on.



Lower A-arm with the new ball joint.



Reproduction lower ball joint, made in India .. hopefully just as good a quality as what came from Detroit.




I was able to remove these rivets by grinding off the top and then hammering the rivets out with a 5-lb maul and an anvil. The upper a-arm was not so easy. I put quite a bit of, shall I say, passion into a 7-lb maul and they would not budge, so I put them into my 40-ton air over hydraulic press and it pushed them out.

Here I have the A-arm cleaned, painted, and I'm installing the new rubber bushings with the press.



BTW if you ever buy a press I highly recommend getting the air-over-hydraulic one. Not only does it get tiring to pump that handle like a crazy monkey, there will be times when you'll want to hide! When the going gets tough, I stand off to the side and watch through the little peephole. One time I was trying to install an air suspension bag and it blew off the end plate. One of the steel blocks flew, landed on my air hose and cut it in half! You know it takes a lot of force to cut something in half with a square block.

In the picture below I'm putting everything back together. New sway bar bushings, new upper and lower ball joints, new lower A-arm bushings. The springs looked fine to me, hopefully I won't regret it once the 460 is installed.

Since there is no engine in the car, the jack kept lifting up the car instead of compressing the spring, so I had to use the ratchet strap to provide some extra force.



I'm still contemplating whether to replace the outer tie rod ends. They don't look bad, but I have it all apart now and it's NOT A FUN JOB. My wife was in the house 500' from the shop and came to check if I was ok because she heard me hitting that car as if it was my mother in law's little pinky


And here's the upper A-arm painted and with new upper ball joint.

 

Slightly o/t but this little TV has been a great companion. I salvaged it from a trash heap.
I'm using the (otherwise defunct) VCR which was also in the trash as an RF modulator for my Roku box so I can watch netflix and youtube video. I have T1 internet right into the shop Netflix has a TON of documentaries that are fascinating to listen to while working. Travel the world from the comfort of your garage AND get something done.

 

Cool project. I'll also admit that i've done some EFI conversions, looks like this one will be a great cruiser.

 

Getting a little pedantic here but I got the brakes assembled again.



The brake shoes and hardware looked to be in very good shape so I decided to put that all back in, just cleaned it up with new brake lines and slave cylinder.

The inner wheel seal is somewhat damaged and there was some grease on the backing plate, so I decided I will replace that before I start driving the car.

 

Great project -- I am a big station wagon fan, esp the 60 Ford ranch wagons. Keep up the good work!

Oh, but on a side note, you mentioned 6+ months of 100 degree weather in Texas? It's pretty hot June through mid-September, but come on, the rest of the year it's tolerable. I actually drove my car a/c-less last summer in DFW so I remember distinctly which months were the hottest, heh...

 

One thing I noticed about the old A-arms is that the bushings were NOT pressed into the a-arms all the way.



Because there is this space, they had large washers to take up the slack. The washers were only on one side.
When I installed the new bushings, I pushed them in all the way and with that they fit tightly to the frame without needing the washers - in fact I had to use some leverage to squeeze them in.

For a while I thought maybe the washers help control wear... but then they were only on the front side and not the rear side so that shouldn't be it. I guess it was just for ease of installation in the factory? I figure the way I did it is fine, may have to check the caster if the steering isn't quite right.

 

I put '79 Tbird disk on mine....It was easy.

 

Cool wagon and great build thread.

 

GREAT build and nice to see another 59 Edsel Wagon!

 

I've always wanted an Edsel. I can recall in my high school years, there being a mid to late '50's Edsel that was brown sitting in some guy's driveway 3 blocks from my home and I never liked them. Then after I got into college and found this place and started garnering an appreciation for Edesls, the brown Edsel disappeared.

I snoozed.. I lost. Your wagon is gorgeous. Not a fan of the modern stuff, but parts availability, performance, and perhaps even mileage for that drivetrain will be much better than the ol' straight 6. Get that sucker driving so I can add you to my list of "Envy the Guy."

 

Welcome to the 59 Edsel Villager club, Just ordered a few more parts for mine yesterday.

 

I was in a junkyard a couple of years ago and almost every car had 1973 license plates. I think it was due to the 73 gas crunch. Everyone wanted a car with better gas mileage

 

Sweet car. Add me to the list of those envious. I love Edsels. The E4OD is a great transmission. One of my favorites actually. I've got a 55 f-100 with a 429 CJ and a C6 that loves gas and one of my goals for the truck is to someday swap in a E4OD.

 

cool project

will follow

 

Yea the ranch wagons are very nice too!

This car had been for sale for more than 6 months, every month or two it came up again. Eventually I said, you know that may just be a nice project. Originally I was thinking more along the lines of a biscayne or impala. I like the buick electra a lot too. But then a lot of those cars didn't have the big motors, 2spd automatics, and 10.5 compression. I like a 9:1 compression motor with big cubes for easy power. Then as said the e4od gives you a wide gear ratio. So I decided to look for a car that was basically in good shape but with a bad engine cuz I just can't take a good working car apart.

I only have 3 years to average from but so far yea it's been hot may - october. I drive a non-ac car year round but I have to take a change of clothes with me, it's so hot. I need to wear wide shirts otherwise I can't even get them off. And our lab is a constant 72 degrees which is freezing. So yea I'm going to put an under-dash ac in this car...

Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE smartphone

 

I know of several wagons I got 59, 58, and 60 all had 73 tags too.

 

Yea I bet it's the oil crisis. Pretty sad to think what's all been thrown away during those years!!

Interestingly there was still a half a tank of gas in the car. The gas had turned into a solid block of charcoal! The tank was so rusted I tore part of it open by hand. I put a lighter under a piece of charcoal and it still burns! But not suitable to go through a carburetor anymore.

Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE smartphone

 

They are still around. In fact last summer I saw a very nice Edsel sedan that looked like it was restored, new interior and paint, running and driving condition, in the Amarillo craigslist for $5500. I thought that was a pretty good price.

I ran into another guy from Amarillo at the Lone star roundup and he was asking $75k

 

Do you have any pictures or a build thread for yours? I just did a quick search and didn't find any here.

 

castirondude,

At what point in time did it become non-embarrassing to state that you own an Edsel?